https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2007-00051-9
Structure and dynamics in PEO nanocomposites
1
Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
2
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Chemical Engineering, Thessaloniki, Greece
3
University of Ioannina, Physics Department, Ioannina, Greece
4
ILL-Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France
In this work, the effect of confinement on the local, the segmental and the ionic processes of poly(ethylene oxide)/montmorillonite (PEO/MMT) intercalates is investigated. X-ray diffraction and DSC data show that the intercalated PEO chains remain amorphous and it is only the excess PEO chains outside the galleries that crystallize. This is also evident in the behavior of the elastic intensity of quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) experiments on the same hybrids. Dielectric relaxation spectroscopy reveals that confinement results in an acceleration of the PEO segmental dynamics that display an Arrhenius temperature dependence with low activation energy, whereas the local beta-process remains unaffected.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2007
